Matsui joins Yankees lore with World Series record in clincher

NEW YORK -- The champagne was spraying, and Hideki Matsui loved it.

He loved the feeling of finally being a champion here, just as he had been a champion over there. He loved the sense of satisfaction that comes with contributing the way he did.

He loved the champagne.

It was always beer in Japan. Three times, Matsui had won the Japan Series with the Yomiuri Giants ("The Yankees of Japan"). Three times, he celebrated with beer.

Matsui will never say that winning here beats winning there. He will say that champagne beats beer.

"Yes," he said [in English], flashing a big smile. "Smells better."

He waited for that smile and waited for that smell, through his first six years with the Yankees of New York. He waited, and he knew very well that his time could be running out.

"I have no idea right now," Matsui said [through interpreter Roger Kahlon] when he was asked if he'll be a Yankee next year.

He may not be a 2010 Yankee. But he ensured Wednesday night that he'll be a Yankee forever.

He became a champion, because the Yankees beat the Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 to win the World Series. He became more than a champion, because he drove in six of those seven runs in a performance that ranks among the best in World Series history.

"It's very, very special to have that day," said Reggie Jackson, one of the few who relate. "A closing game, a guy drives in six. And a wonderful guy."

A World Series MVP, because just as Reggie won the award 32 years ago with his three home runs in a clinching Game 6, Matsui won it with his six RBI in this Game 6.

He won it with the six RBI, but also with the .615 batting average, second best in Yankees World Series history to a guy named Babe Ruth (who hit .625 in the 1928 Series). He won it even though the lack of a designated hitter in the three games in Philadelphia limited him to one pinch-hit at-bat in those games (which he turned into a home run in the Yankees' 8-5 win in Game 3).

Reggie. The Babe. And now Matsui.

That's how it's supposed to go with the Yankees. That's how it was supposed to go for Matsui, who came over from Japan seven years ago next month, carrying that "Godzilla" nickname and bringing the expectation that there would be nights like this.

"My first and foremost goal when I joined the Yankees was to win the world championship," Matsui said. "Certainly it's been a long road and a very difficult journey. I'm just happy that after all those years we were able to win and reach the goal that I had come here for."

He had always hoped that this wasn't his last chance to win here, but he had always known that it might be. Matsui will be a free agent, and while the Yankees have never ruled out bringing him back, it's well-known that they would prefer to leave the DH spot open for their other aging stars (Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez and, if he comes back, Johnny Damon).

So when the questions were asked Wednesday night, Matsui could only say he doesn't know how things will turn out. When the questions were asked, Yankees officials would only say the answers will come later.

They couldn't say Matsui will be back. They could say they were happier than ever that he was here now.

"He's one of those all-timers," general manager Brian Cashman said. "He's one of those players that you always want, and you always want to gravitate to. He understands tradition, he understands respect, he understands what taking that paycheck on the first and the 15th means, and he understands about winning, because he has won everywhere he's been."

For the first six years, he won in New York, but not like he was supposed to win. He played in the World Series in his first Yankee season, but lost to the Marlins.

MVP Hideki Matsui adds a Yankee title to the three he won in Japan. (Getty Images)

He was there for the collapse against the Red Sox in 2004, for the playoff disappointments in 2005 and '06 and '07, for the '08 season that ended without even a playoff appearance. Matsui showed the Yankees something even that year, because he insisted on continuing to play down the stretch, rather than shut it down and get his sore knees taken care of.

The knees kept him out of the outfield this year (and in the World Series games in Philadelphia). The knees could force him out of New York this winter.

But the bat is still there. It was all this year, when Matsui drove in 90 runs, third on the Yankees behind Mark Teixeira and A-Rod.

"Maybe our best hitter in the clutch," Jackson said. "One of our most feared hitters."

He showed it in Game 2, when his home run off Pedro Martinez broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning. He showed it again Wednesday, when his long home run off Pedro provided the first two runs in Game 6. And then when his two-out single made it 4-1 Yankees in the third, and when his two-run double made it 7-1 in the fifth.

He showed it, on the night the Yankees won their 27th championship -- but their first with a Matsui in the lineup.

"This is what we strive for," he said later, through Kahlon. "This is the ultimate goal."

And then, asked for one word in English, he smiled again and said simply: "Fantastic."

He could have been talking about the season, or about his World Series, or about his own incredible performance in Game 6.

Or, maybe, about the smell of the champagne.